Just to add a bit of clarity - in my assessment we were told that both permanent contracts & flexi-contracts were being offered (I have yet to meet or speak with ANYONE who has been offered a permanent contract - including a 737 Captain with 7000 hrs).
The flexi contracts on offer were paid per hour and there were no guaranteed minimum hours. We were also told, if on a flexi-contract, that we would be working for CTC and only after 12 months on an hourly contract would we be considered for employment by easyJet - again there were no guarantees. These are facts from someone who has attended the assessments. I know of several other people who also attended and they were told the same. If you look through these threads, you will actually find posts from people who have been offered a flexi-contract after being contacted by CTC.
With regards to this business about "market rates" & what is fair or not, I have to strongly disagree with lots of the comments on this board.
I have worked for almost 30 years and during that time I have NEVER been offered "what a company thought they could get away with". Every company I have ever worked for had a salary structure. Sometimes people had increments for length of service and experience levels. Basic salaries & terms however have always been the same for EVERYONE. Apart from the ethical side of things, finding out that the guy sat next to you (who may be better or worse at their job than you) is being paid more than you to do the same job is very destructive in a company. It is one of the quickest ways to de-motivate an entire workforce.
It is a sorry state of affairs that people are willing to accept that this is just the way it works. I can assure you it is not in most businesses. Zero hours contract themselves are unethical, destructive and undermine the strong commitment that companies and employees make to each other when offering & accepting employment. That's why the government will eventually outlaw them.
Zero hours contracts are only attractive to companies who can see as far as next weeks profit margin and can't see that their workforce feel under-valued and have been cheated by those in charge. Sticking a carrot in front of your nose saying you could earn £105K in five years doesn't sweeten the sickening taste in your throat at being offered the same contract as a temporary worker.
I wonder how many easyJet captains would be happy if tomorrow you were sent a letter saying you were being transferred onto a zero hours contract? I suspect none and quite rightly so. You should be valued & paid according to your professionalism and not what the company thinks it can get away with.
With regards interns & apprenticeships, it is understandable that when employing cadets with little experience that a reduced salary should be offered as they are essentially completing an apprenticeship. Please remember however, the guys applying for these direct entry positions are not teenagers, they are grown professionals with mortgages & families to feed.
Some of my friends who have been offered a flexi-contract simply cannot afford to accept the deal regardless of what they could earn in five years. Don't forget, they also have to stump up £20k for the type rating in return for an unknown salary during year 1, without the guarantee of a salary in year 2.
To have spent lots of time & money getting to a stage where you are offered a job you simply cannot afford to accept is absolutely sickening.
Its seems as is easyJet are saying "you may be good enough to fly our planes but your not that good that we have to pay you a salary you can afford to live on" or "you've passed the application stage, online assessments, interviews, group exercises, technical exams and a simulator assessment - now give us £20k and in return we can guarantee absolutely nothing - cos we think you're that desperate to earn £105k a year in five years, that we can get away we it".
If people on here don't get that, then the human race has fallen even further into the abyss than I had thought.